Aggravated Sexual Assault, Sex Offences

It was alleged that shortly after he arrived in Australia, he sexually assaulted his 12-year old step-daughter on multiple occasions while his wife was at work.

The complainant allegedly reported the matters to her mother, who said she then contacted police. The complainant participated in an electronically recorded police interview outlining the allegations, after which our client was arrested and charged with seven counts of ‘Aggravated Sexual Intercourse without Consent’

Our client vehemently denied the allegations. He instructed us that in 2017, the relationship with his the complainant’s mother had broken down and that he had always been a loving father to the child.

The complainant participated in two further electronically recorded interviews, which sought to clarify a number of questions raised in the initial interview.

Our review of the material revealed a number of significant inconsistencies and flaws in the case – perhaps the most fundamental being that our client was overseas when one of the incidents was alleged to have taken place. We obtained immigration documents to verify this fact.

Our client also provided us with Facebook correspondences between him and his (ex) wife, amongst which was a message where she wrote, “Now that you’re breaking up with me, I will make your life a living hell”. The allegations were made shortly after this message.

We prepared a detailed letter to the DPP – known as ‘representations’ – calling for the withdrawal of all charges. We arranged for a case-conference with the DPP solicitor in charge of the prosecution, and highlighted the problems in the case and the injustice of pursuing such charges.

After a number of sets of further negotiations, the DPP withdrew all charges.

This meant our client avoided a lengthy and expensive District Court trial and all of the stress that goes with it, and is free to get on with his life.